Summary: Sermon Series by Dr. Tim Pollock on Parenting

I commend you for getting this far in our journey for an extraordinary family. Some readers might be past the childbearing age. Others don’t have children, and yet you still love God’s Word and know there is always something to be gained from the Bible. The Bible teaches that ALL scripture is given by God and is profitable. Sometimes we’re not sure what “profit” we are getting, but we can be sure there is some.

It has been stated that Susanna Wesley was the mother of the Methodist church. She raised two firebrands for God named John and Charles, and 17 more. John Wesley was a strong personality with definite ideas on how things should be run for a church to become great. Where do you think he got those ideas? You guessed it – mom! She was a mom with purpose. Each of the children learned Greek, Latin as well as classical literature from mom at home. At a certain point in her life she even wrote an extended commentary on the Ten Commandments; what an incredible woman of God! That doesn’t mean that every mom or dad has to home educate, teach Greek or write commentaries to be successful. The point being, that this amazing parent created an environment that fostered growth for children with purpose.

A peaceful home is like heaven on earth. No Feng Shui could bring about the peace that is in a home where there is Christian order. There is a soothing quality in a family where Christ reigns. A peaceful home is a place where children can grow and be healthy. It is a place where spirits can flourish. Could any thing be greater than that?

Unhappy people will give anything for some peace. Many would gladly give up all their money and go to a deserted island and live on coconut juice, just to have peace and serenity. Peace is one of the highest goals in nations and individuals as well.

Loving correction brings emotional, physical, mental and spiritual rest. It is amazing how restful a well-ordered family is. More than just restful, God says it is delightful! Many families would be happy just with a few moments of quiet, let alone spiritual peace. Solomon states that if a parent will bring his family into alignment with the word of God, a delightful peace will ensue.

Let’s examine what it takes to have peaceful homes:

1. Parenting Is to Be a Joy

Correct your child and then you, as the parent, will be able to rest. Parenting is to be a restful experience. Correct thy son and he shall give you rest. The Bible doesn’t say that the child gets rest…no, it is you, the parent, that gets the down deep rest and delight. What a beautiful promise this is!

God says that parenting is meant to be a wonderful thing.

There is a common attitude today that children are a burden, especially if you have several. To be sure, the sheer logistics of coordinating a large family is exhausting. It really is. There is no other way to say it. It is mentally exhausting to try to coordinate the education of several children. It is emotionally taxing to deal with your daughters and sons issues. It is physically taxing rising up in the middle of the night with infants. I mean, there’s no two ways about it, parenting has stress. Pastor Charles Spurgeon, who would know something about stress as the leader of thousands, stated about being in the ministry, “A good minister gets tired in the work but never gets tired of the work.” There’s a big difference between being tired in parenting and tired of parenting.